X-MEN: Post-Apocalypse
by L.H. Perez
Summary: The present, an agony that is waiting for us hid into the promise to be able to create a better future, where wounds will heal, where the past differences would vanish. A love, hope, partnership and a family's promise. But is this really the present? A warm line time? Or is the peace before a new storm?
1. Note!

Hi, everyone.

First, I wanna thank you to stop and read this fanfiction. I hope you like it!

Second, I have to tell you guys that English isn't my native language so allow me to apologize for every mistake that you'll find. If you tell me where you find it, I'll be gratefull.

See you, guys! Hugs!


	2. Chapter 1

It had been a month after the catastrophe that we were able to stop and for that time I understood that I wasn't alone in my head. I knew that it shouldn't be possible cause Jean had vanished Apocalypse's psiquis from my mind but I was bloddy sure this feeling wasn't my power playing bad to me. No, a sinister and powerful presence was getting stronger, threating me to take away my own mind, myself. At first, I thought was a nightmare cause I just felt it in my dreams, post-traumatic fears due to the situation that we had lived, ones expressed in my rest time cause they didn't have another way to go out. However, now I knew that it wasn't a past-ghost hunting me during the night shadows. This presence was harassing me both daylight and night darkness.

I started to feel like I was becoming a time bomb. I tried to keep me away from students, specially from Jean, and I didn't dare to use the new cerebro machine. I knew Raven had started to suspect something but I avoided her, devolving her more job or claiming I was bussy. Truth was most of time I kept lost into myself, trying to build a barrier between me and that presence. A presence that I was pretty sure that I knew who was.

On the other hand, the students, or my children -as my old friend called them-, had considerably advanced controlling their powers. Now they didn't look afraid when they have to use them. The new X-men group had gotten stronger to the point of being unstoppable. They had an awesome teamwork as each one were part of the other ones' bodies and minds. I was so proud of them. They had been recruiting mutants around the world, Raven as their lider.

Hank decided to stay at the school to be sure that all students were advised, and in case someone needs any scientific item, he didn't think twice before he got into his lab and build it as fast as he can. He was my major back up in this responsibility that all of us decided to take again.

I was gobsmacked when Scott and Jean told me few weeks later than they had met Logan. Pitifully, I wasn't able to control cerebro to that time; I felt lost and dicky each time that I tried to use the machine.

Moira had come back to her life but she came to visit us everytime she could. I had already met her son, an excellent kid who was friend of the little mutant ones even those who not fixed at all in the physical-normal-look category. I loved her and I was becoming quickly fond to her son, but our love can't be. We had a lot of responsabilities between us, but it didn't change mine or her feelings. We were learning to live through it; another torture for me.

Things had been peaceful since then. Though some world's goverments still blame us about what happened and they even tried to convence all world to rebuild the past robots, other goverments back us up and nothing worrying had ocurred till this moment. The only thing was nuclear weapons had been restored around the whole world and they were ready to be used.

Alex's death still hurting me and I knew that still hurting Erik, another emotional scar to him. It wasn't any of us fault, but our responsibility was watch out for them, protect them, and we had failed again.

Erik had gone once we started the X-men training. I hoped he was walking in a better road, one non led by his rage and pain, his self-destructive feelings. Just thinking about him made me felt pained, tears filling my eyes. I closed them while I reminded myself that he has leaving being in control, his suferring dwindle. I knew I could trust he was doing his best wherever he was.

I would have liked he to stay for sure, but I didn't dare to force him. That would be as keeping him locked up, and I loved him so much to did it. He was a very important person to me, one who had hurt me a lot of times, physically and emotionally, ripping my heart apart and walking through the pieces, but I kept thinking about him as my beloved friend; I thought that sharing his pain, his suffering and beautiful memories, made me love him more, appreciate him, made me strong enough to never gave up trying to save him even from himself.

During first week I checked him through cerebro, wanting to know if he was fine. He still in New York last time I could saw him. He was doing jobs here and there, but he was fine and that was enough to me. I thought he felt me; I didn't still knowing how he can do that, and even he never said a word to me, I felt I was welcome in his head, a warm feeling like he was touched by my concern.

I finished my expensive whisky glass, felling knackered and finally I turned off my desk light, wheeling to the door. School was so quiet; everyone was sleeping. I watched my wrist clock noticing it was a little past two o'clock. Even the X-men had to be in home now.

As if that thought had called her, I met with Raven once I closed the door. I had got use to see her here, in the school, but it didn't meant that I didn't feel happy everytime I saw her, knowing she was by my side. No Mystique, the heroin, but Raven, the girl who I grow up with, who I raised up, who was my sister.

"Do you want to tell me what is going on with you lately?". She had her arms around her breast and that stubborn gesture she had developed since the time she was with Erik.

"Nothing at all. You don't have to worry. I'm just getting relax, drinking a whisky glass, before I go to sleep".

I saw in her golden eyes a decepcion spark. "Really, Charles? After everything we had lived you still treating me as a child?".

It was a hard habit to break. She was my little sister. I didn't want to share my problems, made her worry about me. However, glare at her, I knew I was being quite irrational. She was an adult now, one who took decisions and who had show me a lot of times that she always finish choosing the right path. She was strong enough to share my worries.

But not now. In this moment she looked tired. Now that I thought about it, the X-men had been almost twenty four hours out of the school.

"You are right, Raven. My apologizes. I will tell you but first, you and I, have to rest, sleep a bit". When I saw she gonna answer me back, I added: "And that is a promise".

A second later, after she thought about it, she nodded and turned back, walking to her room. "Night, Charles".

I wheeled to my own room, never thinking that could be the last time I saw her and that I will fail to her with another promise.


	3. Chapter 2

"¡Raven! ¡Raven!".

I woke up startled, someone was desperately knocking at my room's door at the same time he was calling my name. I didn't doubt for a second, I jumped to the door and when I was just opening it, I crashed against it cause a strong earthquake shook the school. I fell on Hank -who was calling me- and he inmediatly surrounded me in his arms avoiding that we fell on the ground.

"What...?".

"It's Jean. She had again a power burst while she was sleeping so I went to get the Professor. But since he got into her room it's getting worse and I can't open the door".

I peer at him. I didn't get what was happening and I started feeling a heaviness in my breast that I wasn't able to explain.

Jean had improved a lot when she stopped to be afraid of her power; she had embraced that part of herself as I advised her when we were on Cairo. And Charles' tips allowed her to trust herself. However, an occasional night, I thought when she had a nightmare, she lost her dominion over her powers but nothing Charles couldn't control.

Once the earthquake stopped, we ran to Jean's room but we broke sharply when we found her door open and a deathly silence.

It had begun to dawn, sun was streaming through the windows and usually the school started to be filled by sounds to this time: students whining about having to get up so early, showers running, the sound of Charles' wheelchair scraping the wood floor. So this peace, this quietude was a bad omen.

The hall had filled for students, older ones with curiosity expressions in their faces and little ones with fear.

It looked like Hank noticed them at same time I did cause he turned to them and commanded them to get back to their respective rooms. He got closer to the little ones and he persuaded them, claiming all was ok.

Scott came running, looking worried. "What was that? Is Jean ok?", he asked me without stopping for a second. However, before I could answer him, he was already getting into her room.

"Scott, wait!". We didn't know what to expect but his ears were deaf to my order, so I followed him immediately.

The room was burned, all the stuff destroyed, bubbling walls, and Jean was in the floor in the middle of that disaster, pale and barely breathing. Charles wasn't in the room.

"Jean! Jean!". Scott ran to her to pick her in his arms but he hissed and got away when he touched her. He turned to me, looking worried and desperate. "She is burning!".

"Hank, get the cooling chamber! Right now!".

He, who had returned to Jean's room, rushed out to get it.

"Scott, stay away from her. We don't know if Jean can control her powers being like this. Hank will take care of her".

As if he wanted to buck up my words, he got into Jean's room again and began to deposit icepacks around her. They started to smoke once they got in contact with her skin. He didn't stop till she was completely sorrounded by icepacks and with an ice-blanket on her body, and a smaller one on her forehead.

I met Hank's gaze, one that conveyed my own thoughts. What had happened here? And most important, where was Charles?

* * *

"Charles! Charles!".

"Professor!".

I was caught in the middle of a dense fog, lost; I was slightly aware about what was happening outside but I was unable to respond or do something. It was like I was in a swamp, walking on quicksand, sorrounded by darkness. It seemed that every attemp to get out of it, made me got sucked more deeply. I was losing myself.

And in the midst of my failed attempts to regain control, knowing that something bad had happened, I felt a deep fun, a dark satisfaction that wasn't mine.

"I warned you, Charles. For first time in my lifetime, I have you".

I wasn't able to avoid the feeling of being terrible scared knowing it was really happening. I understood then that this quicksand was him, trying to beat me, trying to bury me in the depths of my own mind. "Oh, my God". I tried to fight harder, but my efforts were futile. I was just making things worse, the situation went all to pot.

"Now that all have been revealed I understand that powers of that girl who was with you, who destroyed my body, are still immature and that is the reason why I still exist. She didn't have the caution to clean the pieces of my psyche in your mind. I have taken advantage of her lack of control and I exhausted the phoenix, made her to consumed herself in her own flames. It will take a while till she recover and then it will be too late".

"Jean", I muttered worriedly. "What have you done to Jean?!". When I didn't receive an answer I started to fight again. "How is this even possible?".

"I had been blocking you all this time, keeping you to feel me while I recovered. And though I'm not strong enough cause just a little part of me stay in this world, I'm sure, I'm convinced that if I can't beat you I can be one with you, combine our psyches".

Both options were insane, barmy. I kept trying hardest to get out of that swamp, screaming for the effort and concern, achieving a few steps forward only to be dragged further than I was. I wasn't able to win this fight, even now when Apocalypse still weak.

I tried to hit his psyche with my powers, but they seemed to bounce off an invisible wall, coming back to me hard and hurting me.

"There's nothing you can do, Charles. Neither now nor few weeks ago. You're mine. This time you're also alone. Surrender to me".

But I would not. I kept fighting, but something made me lose my balance so I fell, but even I thought I will get drown, I noticed quicksand was getting into my body through my pores, disappearing inside.

"My God, no! Get out! Get away!".

But the answer to my words was just the echo of a laugh. Then all I felt was a burning pain in the midde of my head, dragged me into the darkness.

* * *

"I have found him!" Peter appeared in front of us with Charles on his shoulder. He immediately went to a sofa where he put him down.

"This is bad, very bad", Peter said and I had to be completely agree with him.

"What is this? What had happened to him, Raven?" Hank asked, approaching hesitantly to him.

I didn't have idea.

He was turning blue.


	4. Chapter 3

I found Hank totally focused on his work, he had not even noticed that I was in his laboratory till I put a hand on his shoulder. He leaned away from his microscope, startled, and once he noticed that was me, he glare at me and I got lost in those blue eyes for a moment that seemed endless. He was who finally broke any contact, looking away and standing up.

I dropped my hand next to my body as he cleared his throat, looking everywhere but not to me.

I would be lying if I said this distance, this wall built among us many years ago, didn't hurt me. However, if I were able to turn back time to when we were on that beach in Cuba, I will not change my decision; I still accepting Erik's hand even knowing what awaited us in the future. I had discovered myself when I was with him, I had accepted myself; he had given me the confidence who allowed me became the person who I was today.

"How is Charles?", I asked, ignoring the emotions' knot settled in my breast.

Two long days had passed since Peter had found him. We had taken him to the laboratory along with Jean, where Hank was commissioned to check and constantly monitor him, both of them, but neither Jean nor Charles had awakened.

"His skin is almost normal except for his head. It still blue. But", he continued saying as we approached to the gurney where Charles lied, " he hasn't awakened. His brain waves are stable and their pupils respond to any stimuli, so I don't know what's wrong with him. It's like he is in some kind of coma".

I took one of Charles' hands, wanting to let him know how worried I was. I was also angry, of course. It had been a complete idiocy that he had kept to himself what was going on; I was pretty sure this situation had been something progressive not sudden. But this wasn't the moment to explode; I will do it once he recovers completely.

"Jean has me more worried if you ask me. She doesn't react to painful stimuli even though his vital signs are constant". He let out a frustated sigh. "Truth is I don't know what to do", he murmured abruptly while he walked away. "I don't know what to do", he repeated.

My eyes followed him for a moment and the I leant to Charles, placing a kiss on his forehead and whispering: "You must to get better. This school isn't the same without you, Professor. We need you".

After taking a look at Jean, who seemed she was having a good night's sleep, I got closer to Hank who was filling a syringe with a medication.

"If anyone can help them is you, Hank. You're the smartest of us".

"I have been working two days without taking a break, you know, running all test that I have thought about, trying to create a serum, something to wake them up or even just to improve their condition, but I haven't been able to do it", he said with frustation, just giving me a look while he squeezed the syringe. "Truth is I feel that I'm failing everyone".

"Hank", I muttered, getting closer to him, "you created a serum that lets you control your mutation, one that recovered Charles. I mean, you gave him his legs when he needed them most. I know you can handle this".

He returned where Charles was and he applied the medicine in the IV bag connected to Charles' arm.

"It's not just that", he finally said, looking at me. "Everything is falling apart. Students still attending their classes but they didn't play attention, how could they? They're alarmed, wondering what will happen now that we don't have the Professor backing us up. Even teachers are disturbed. Not to mention the X-men; without the Charles' guidance to know where find other mutants, you can't do anything. And you had already recruited all mutants on the list that Charles gave you last time".

And he was absolutely right. The school had been charged with an uneasy, disturbed air. All of us were concerned cause we were facing an unknown enemy who had already taken our first defense line, two of the three strongest mutants we knew.

"That's it", I muttered to myself and then I looked up, meeting with Hank's eyes. "We need Erik".

Hank's expression immediately changed, becoming bitter and ironic. "Erik, sure. Having him here will solve all our problems".

"You...".

Hank walked away, heading to the laboratory's exit, but he stopped at the door and turned to me. He kept silent for a moment, looking to the floor, but then he smiled with some irony, shaking his head.

"But though I hate to admit it, you're right. We need him. If anyone can handle this school, till Charles gets better, is Erik. After all, I remember all this", he gestured with one of his hand around us, "was their idea". He looked at me. "But how we gonna find him?".

* * *

A new beginning. I was getting tired of how predictable was becoming my life; always trying to walk on the right path and then end up losing everything and becoming a destruction's and anger's being. However, I knew this time everything would be different, I will fight against everyone and everything to achieve it, limitless. For first time so long ago, since when I was with Charles recruiting mutants and training with them, I finally felt appeased; it was like I finally was able to reach the kindness Charles assured me many times I had, without had being with the mutant. Well, not physically, at least.

Losing my daughter an my wife still causing me a wound in my soul though it was no longer a black hole of despair. Knowing that I had a family, that though we didn't share blood ties still believed in me, even when I had given them a thousand of reasons not to do so, was like a soothing for all that pain that usually enveloped me.

I had not gone so far from them; I still in New York. I had not decided what to do with my life. I thought back to my native country but there were no more than bad memories. So I decided to stay a while, let everything ran at their own pace. I had even been thinking about going back to school, working with Charles and the X-men side by side; however, I knew that I wouldn't fit quite good there. Professor wanted to teach his students how coexist with humans, gave them an endless spark of hope, one that claimed that tolerance was possible. I still didn't believe in all that and I was sincerely happy that Raven had been able to convince him to rebuild the X-men program, a squadron prepared to face any possible threat, both human and mutant.

The point is that I was sure Charles would never support my views on such issues and I didn't want to damage again our relationship; we had finally found a meeting point, one that seemed to be made of glass, threating to break with the slightest and gentle tap, one that I always ended up giving.

I had been feeling him in my head. I knew it was him cause Charles seemed to be a hope ray shining the darkest corners of my mind. Though I missed him, I didn't say a word to him cause I didn't know what to say. Yes, anger and pain in me were mitigated for now, but that was all. He would know it without needing me to say it.

Now that I thought about it I had not feeling him for days, even weeks. Teaching and training the new X-men team should occupied all his time. I wanted to know how were they, how was Raven, how can she adapted to the heroin pedestal that everyone gave her.

I thought maybe, just maybe, when I feel strong enough to see them without having the desire to join them, I will go to visit them. I knew doors were open to me; after all, Charles had been trying to recruit me to his new team.


End file.
